Shimmer and Shine

Plot

The first season is set in the human world and focuses on a young girl named Leah who is friends with twin genie sisters named Shimmer and Shine. Each day, the genies grant Leah three wishes, but they often make mistakes. Each episode features Leah working together with the genies to resolve the problems they unintentionally cause, all while keeping Shimmer and Shine a secret from her next door neighbor and best friend Zac.

In the second season, the characters are transported to Zahramay Falls, a magical land where Shimmer and Shine live. Leah reveals her genies' existence to Zac, who is given a genie of his own, named Kaz. Shimmer and Shine continue to grant Leah wishes in Zahramay Falls and befriend the sovereign of the land, Princess Samira. The season includes Samira's pet peacock, Roya and Leah's pet fox, Parisa. Also, Zeta, a villainous sorceress, and finally, Zeta's dragon, Nazboo.

Characters

Humans and genies

Shimmer (voiced by Eva Bella in the US, and Mia Wiltshire in the UK) is an optimistic genie with peach skin, blue eyes, cyan jewels, a purple genie outfit and cold red ponytailed hair. She is enthusiastic and encouraging. She loves cleaning, unlike her older sister, playing the tuba, and collecting genie bottles, and glitter.

Shine (voiced by Isabella Cramp in the US, Elie Simons and Mia Hope in the UK) is a courageous genie with peach skin, purple eyes, pink jewels, a teal genie outfit with yellow shoes and blue ponytailed hair. She is an animal lover and is often hungry. Her pet is a Bengal tiger cub named Nahal. Due to her love of animals, she is very knowledgeable about the behaviors of magical creatures native to Zahramay Falls. Unlike her younger sister, she hates cleaning. A running gag involves Shine saying "It's like I always say..." only to humorously reveal that she has just made up whatever she says next.

Leah (voiced by Alina Foley in the US, and Claudia Burns in the UK) is a long blonde haired girl with green eyes, fair skin who owns a genie bottle necklace on her pink shirt, which includes Shimmer and Shine. Although Shimmer and Shine usually mess up her wishes, Leah is patient and forgiving. Originally, she is forced to keep her genie's existence a secret from her close friend Zac, but reveals her secret to him after being transported to Zahramay Falls. In the second season, Princess Samira grants Shine, Shimmer, Leah and Zac's wish to visit Zahramay Falls whenever they want. While in Zahramay Falls, Leah magically dons a genie disguise to avoid detection, as humans are not normally allowed in the falls.

Zac (voiced by Blake Bertrand in the first two seasons, Justin Felbinger, and later Ethan Jones in seasons three and four in the US, and Innis Robertson-Pinnel in the UK) is Leah's neighbor with red hair and blue eyes, and best human friend. In the first season, he is oblivious to the fact that Leah has genies. Whenever something strange or unusual happens, he responds to it in a carefree manner. He also has a habit of telling humorous experiences he has had to Leah. In the second season, he learns that Leah has genies and gets a genie of his own named Kaz.

Princess Samira (voiced by Nikki SooHoo in the US, and Cariad Lloyd in the UK) is the ruler of Zahramay Falls and oversees all genies in training. She can grant wishes along with the younger genies. She occasionally rewards genies with magic Genie Gems that can have a variety of magical effects. She acts as Shimmer and Shine's mentor and teacher. Despite Zeta being her self-proclaimed rival, Samira likes Zeta and is willing to give her a second chance at becoming a genie-in-training, which in season three is revealed to be due to her past friendship with Zeta when they were both students under Empress Caliana.

Animals

All animals in the series are voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.

Tala is Shimmer's pet gibbon.

Nahal is Shine's Bengal tiger cub.

Rocket is Zac's pet beagle who appears in several episodes of the first season and he does not appear in the entirely of season 2 reappears in the third season. He did not appear in the entire season two. He is a rambunctious dog with a tendency to drool and chew on things which often causes trouble, though is simply an overly playful pouch who means no real harm.

Nazboo is Zeta's talking pet dragon, who caters to her every need and acts as Zeta's underling. He is somewhat clumsy and often accidentally causes Zeta's schemes to backfire. He can also get easily distracted by food or anything that piques his interest. In the third season, he is revealed to be from Manetikar, the land of dragons, and befriended Zeta when she came to Manetikar to find a dragon for a pet. Feeling sorry for Zeta after her attempt to make one of the larger flying dragons her pet failed, he agreed to become her pet.

Roya is Princess Samira's pet peacock, who resides in her palace. Roya is the polar opposite of Shimmer and Shine's pets, as she would much rather show off her feathers or practice walking gracefully than play or dance. Unlike Samira, Roya has a strong dislike for Zeta and Nazboo, to the point of literally chasing them out of Samira's Palace on one occasion. Once a year, she sheds a special feather with the ability to repair any magical object.

Parisa is Leah's pet fox who possesses the ability to camouflage herself, making her practically invisible. She is the second pet native to Leah and Zac’s world overall. Parisa is a purple, common earth fox and is introduced midway through the second season.

Zain is Kaz's pet Ziffilon (a griffin-like creature). Kaz had always wanted a pet Ziffilon before getting Zain, so Zac uses one of his wishes to wish up a Ziffilon for Kaz. Zain is by far the largest of the pets, as he is big enough for Kaz to ride on his back, though despite his size Zain gets scared easily even more so than Kaz.

Production

Shimmer and Shine is based on an unreleased pilot that took six months to develop in 2013, with a reported completion date of September 2013. The pilot was created by Farnaz Esnaashari-Charmatz, who previously worked on Dora the Explorer, with Sindy Boveda Spackman as the writer and Andy Bialk as the art director. It was ordered to series by Nickelodeon in March 2014, with the first season to consist of 20 episodes. The series premiered on August 24, 2015.

On February 15, 2016, it was announced that Shimmer and Shine was renewed for a 20-episode second season that uses CGI animation, with the second season premiering in the United States on June 10, 2016. On June 20, 2016, Shimmer and Shine was renewed for a third season of an additional 20 episodes. The third season premiered on May 5, 2017.

On May 22, 2017, Shimmer and Shine was renewed for a fourth season consisting of 20 episodes. The fourth season premiered October 22, 2018. Season 4 was eventually increased to 26 episodes.

Broadcast

Shimmer and Shine premiered on Nick Jr. UK on 9 November 2015, where it was dubbed with British voice actors, replacing the original American soundtrack (though Zeta and the animals' voices remained unchanged).

Merchandise

Books

Nickelodeon and Random House Children's Books released books based on the show starting in January 2016.

DVDs

Nickelodeon, with Paramount for Region 1 and with Universal / Sony for Region 4, have released a number of DVDs based on the show.

Nickelodeon, with Paramount for Region 1 and with Universal / Sony for Region 4, released a number of DVDs featuring one episode from a variety of the animated television series they have produced, including "Shimmer & Shine", "Blaze and the Monster Machines", "Blue's Clues", "Bubble Guppies", "Dora and Friends: Into the City!", "Fresh Beat Band of Spies", "Paw Patrol", "Rusty Rivets", "Sunny Day", "Top Wing" and "Wallykazam!", on average 6 on each DVD.

Shimmer and Shine episodes featured as bonus episodes in the DVD releases of other animated television series that Nickelodeon produced, primarily with Universal / Sony for Region 4, including "Paw Patrol" and "Nella the Princess Knight"

Toys

Nickelodeon and Fisher-Price released a toy line based on the show. Mega Bloks playlets based on the show have been released.